1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to computation of real numbers using fixed point data representations and more particularly to correction of errors propagated in such computations.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is often convenient to model real numbers with a fixed point data representation in computer systems, because integer precision is inadequate and either the dynamic range of floating point numbers is unnecessary or the computational overhead of floating point operations is undesirable. Unfortunately, there is an inherent lack of precision in a fixed point data representation. That is, there is not a one-to-one mapping from the rational numbers to the fixed point numbers, and consequently, the representation is imprecise. Furthermore, repeated computation with fixed point numbers can tend to increase the error in the representation as data is added, subtracted, or operated on in any manner that propagates errors.
Thus, there has been a need for a method for controlling overflow or underflow of a number range in a fixed point data representation. The present invention meets this need.